SHIMLA: The queen of seven hills Shimla will be made slum free by the year 2009 said Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Minister Kishan Kapoor after meeting with Union Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja in New Delhi.

Kishan Kapoor told that a sum of Rs. 18.26 crore would be spent to construct 636 housing units in Shimla for urban poor under "Basic services to urban poor" scheme and added that process has been started for constructing such housing units and the tenders have been invited for the purpose.

Kapoor told that construction work on units would start during current financial year and the housing units would be handed over to the slum dwellers by the year 2009.

He told that under integrated housing and slum development projects total 816 units would be constructed in Hamirpur, Dharamshala and Solan town with a total cost of Rs. 16.18 crore and added that process has been started to start construction work on these units.

He said that all such units would be provided to the people living below poverty line of these towns and the selection and identifications will be done by local urban bodies.

He requested the Union Minister to enhance the ceiling limit of rupees 90,000 per dwelling unit to Rs. 200000 (two lakhs)per dwelling unit due to high construction cost in hilly areas and also pleaded for including all the 52 towns of the State under the scheme.

The Minister requested the centre to allocate Rs. 500 crore to the State under Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission so as to undertake massive development activities under the mission in the State, Union Minister of State for Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja assured all possible help to the State Government in this direction.